Respect, rights and repression.

These are three things I never have had to worry about growing up as a white male in the USA.

Even though I grew up in the Bay Area and learned early about gay rights and the challenges and problems the LGBTQ community faced – I never really completely processed the issues. Or really humanized how awful this community has been traditionally treated in our country. My eyes were opened more when I had friends who came out over the years and I worked professionally with LGBTQ co-workers. But Gay Pride felt like a “their” problem and not an “our” problem. And for this I feel ashamed.

I can say the same when it comes to Black Lives Matter and racial injustices that have become front and center for all of us in America. I’ve seen the videos. I’ve had Black friends and I’ve tried to educate myself at least minimally – asking if they’d been pulled over for driving while Black. The answer of course was yes – many times. And I’d shake my head and wonder how it could be true – how could there be such different experiences just because of skin color. But I didn’t take it any further. Since I considered myself to not be racist, I thought that was enough. But it wasn’t – and isn’t. And I’ve since learned that there were still areas that I was racist – and needed to change. Furthermore, “not being a racist” isn’t enough to impact real change when there is such injustice that needs to be addressed. I’ve made a commitment to be anti-racist – whenever and however I have that opportunity.

When I first saw the gruesome video of George Floyd’s murder on Twitter, I instantly knew this was different. It felt different for me personally. I couldn’t watch it without feeling physically sick. Yes, the previous videos of innocent black men getting killed were incredibly disturbing – and unbelievable to me. But this touched a raw nerve like nothing else. Not just for me. But for our entire country.

Where does KDMC fit into all of this?

KDMC is a collection of incredibly talented communication professionals – nearly all of whom are women. We work primarily with small businesses across the country – including fertility clinics who are proud to support LGBTQ family building.

I want KDMC to be an agent of change in our community. We’ve previously made a commitment to support local nonprofits with pro bono support and have also assisted very small businesses by providing marketing services at a steep discount in an attempt to help them gain their marketing footing. But I want us to do more. Our talents and resources put us in a unique position to help both with message development – as well as message distribution. If you’re a Black-owned business who needs help with your marketing, contact us. We will help.

Marketing is a field that is under-represented by minority communities and this must also change. KDMC will be more proactive in seeking out employees, partners and other resources who better reflect the diverse population we’re supposed to represent and communicate with on behalf of our clients. We will work internally to create a process to proactively seek professionals at different levels of their careers and become part of our KDMC family.

Is this enough? Definitely not. But I hope it’s a start of something more and bigger. I want to listen more and learn more. And I want to make sure that we are continuously and consciously anti-racist and anti-discriminatory with our actions and support of organizations who work in these areas.

If you have ideas or suggestions how you’d like to see KDMC do more, please let me know at David@KauferDMC.com

David Kaufer
Founder & Chief Dynamic Officer
Kaufer DMC

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